After Gemini
by jessmerrick
Summary: Teal'c and Sam talk in the Alpha Site infirmary...


_Notes: OK, so, again, during Gemini. It's before the final scene._

"Colonel Carter?" Teal'c said again, his tone soft and not at all angry. She frowned, he should be angry at her, he had every right to be. She had made a huge mistake, she had become emotionally involved, and it was her fault things turned out the way that they did. She knew better than that, she was a soldier.

He was sitting beside the gurney she was currently occupying in the Alpha Site infirmary. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look at him, her eyes red and sore from crying before his arrival.

"Teal'c," she sighed. "Are you OK?"

"I am well," he replied. "Are you also unharmed?"

"I'm fine. My arm isn't broken, just hurts a bit. The Doctor is going to give me some painkillers," she said, wiping her eyes. He knew she hated it when anyone saw her crying, even if they were one of her closest friends, as he was. She hated crying, to her it was being weak, letting her weakness show.

"I am pleased your arm is unbroken," he stated, frowning himself. "Are you emotionally unwell?" He realised how that sounded as she cringed slightly. He mentally cursed himself for implying that she was crazy. "I do not mean to imply that you are mentally unstable. I merely wish to determine that you are in good health."

"I know what you meant, Teal'c," she nodded, smiling slightly. "I don't know how I feel right now…guilty, foolish, angry – at myself more than at her…I can't believe how stupid I was. I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force. That's a high rank, I should know better than to let my feelings get in the way of doing my job!"

"Colonel Carter, I believe it would have been difficult for you to remain detached. The Replicator version of yourself knew exactly what to do to gain your pity. I believe had Daniel Jackson been in the same situation, he would have acted in a similar manner," Teal'c told her, an eyebrow raised.

"Daniel, maybe. He's a civilian, he hasn't been trained like I have. But General O'Neill, or you…you wouldn't have been so stupid," She said, running her good hand through her short blonde hair. "I shouldn't have made those mistakes."

"Colonel Carter, everybody will make mistakes occasionally, some beings make them all of the time. You rarely do. Eventually even you were bound to make a wrong move," he reminded her. "You are close to, but not, perfect. There is not one among us who is."

"It doesn't excuse it, Teal'c. I walked in to that room and I saw me! I saw my own time with Fifth, and what he did to me! And I felt sorry for her, and I felt sick, too. He created a copy of me to be his slave, because I refused. I couldn't work out how I felt about that, relieved or disturbed or guilty that it wasn't me who went through what I thought he put her through!" She yelled, and Teal'c was relieved that the room was empty. She didn't care now, but he knew she would be embarrassed later if anyone had overheard their conversation.

"Fifth treated you very badly indeed, from the little you have told me. It is not surprising that you felt pity for her," he said, his hand still on her shoulder. "You cannot take back your decisions. You must accept them and move on. You may yet defeat her. You are not to blame for her actions. She was not like you."

There was silence for a few minutes, and the Doctor returned, handed her some painkillers and a glass of water to take them with, and then looked again at her arm. Once he had left, she sat back for a moment. "General O'Neill is going to be disappointed."

"Perhaps, however I believe you underestimate him. He has also made mistakes, trusted people when perhaps he should not have. Everyone has done this, including I," The Jaffa said. "May I ask you a question?"

"I'd love to marry you, Teal'c," she said with a small smile. "We can go and live on a nice peaceful little planet with Rya'c and his wife. Bra'tac maybe…" she paused. "Okay, ask me whatever you want to ask."

Teal'c's other eyebrow raised, a thing that rarely happened. She had never done humour as well as O'Neill had, but he was pleased she was attempting to joke. "If you do not wish to answer me, I understand. My question is personal and perhaps unpleasant."

"Just ask it already," she said, reminding him of a grumpy Jack O'Neill. "I think I know what it is, anyway."

"Very well," he bowed his head. "When she brought you in to her mind, what did she show you? Also, there were certain comments the two of you made while I was both present and absent, that I heard either in person or via the guard remaining in the room relating to Fifth and your time with him. I believe you told her that you believed she could never work with Fifth because of what he did to her. She said that what she showed you in her mind, you didn't just sympathise from seeing, you lived through it yourself…"

"She showed me herself walking down the ramp at the SGC, and shooting up the Gate Room. Daniel was there greeting her…me, and another guy, and she killed them," she sighed, staring down at the bed sheet. "Then General O'Neill came in and shot her several times, but it didn't do anything. They looked at each other for a moment, and then Fifth appeared, telling her to kill him. She did. Then she was back on the ship with him, and he was telling her well done, and that she would soon be ready to join him, at his side, as his queen. She was upset, and after he left, she started crying."

Teal'c's eyes were wide. "This must have been a disturbing scene to witness."

"It wasn't real," she sniffed. "I know that. It was a simulation, and she knew it too, but she knew this was going to happen. He was going to make her kill him."

There was silence again, and he wondered if she had forgotten the other part of his question, or whether she simply did not wish to answer it. He had given her the option, he couldn't exactly force her to talk.

"I felt sympathy for her because I lived through a lot of what she went through. While I was with him, he tortured me, so badly. You remember what they were like entering your mind, but this was worse. I could see his anger, his pain, and he was in my mind, and he was bringing up all my most painful memories, and…it's hard to describe but it was agony, it was unbearable," Sam said, and she saw the sorrow in her friend's eyes. "And I'm not telling you any more than that because that is all that you need to know. Is that it was rough. I can't tell you any more, I wish I could, and I'm sorry, but I just can't do it. It's too much."

"I understand." His grip on her shoulder tightened, and then he let go of her, stood up, and took hold of her good hand, helping her down from the bed. "We must depart, Colonel Carter. You require rest, and I believe…large amounts of chocolate and/or alcohol."

At this she smiled, wiping her eyes again. He let go of her hand and they walked off down the corridor, towards the Gate Room. He knew this wasn't over, that she was still going to be beating herself up over this for weeks, months, perhaps even years to come. But for now, she was smiling, slightly. He would ensure that she got past this even if it killed him.


End file.
